It’s raining in Siruvani

Siruvani is back in the news, this time for the right reason, though. According to sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Siruvani dam had been receiving showers in the past couple of days, thanks to the onset of the South West Monsoon over the Kerala coast.

On Friday, the rainfall recorded was 60 mm. It was eight mm on Thursday, zero on Wednesday and 50 mm on Tuesday. And, as of Saturday, it continued to rain in the dam. The water level in the dam, however, stood a little over 11 feet below the dead storage level of 863.4 m.

The past few days’ showers bring good tidings to the city because, after last year’s poor show of South-West Monsoon, the city saw a rapid decline in Siruvani supply.

Wards that were dependent on Siruvani supply went without water until the Corporation stepped in to divert Pilloor dam water to Siruvani-fed areas. Not all Siruvani-dependent wards were benefited, though.

Eight wards stood out and only to those wards the Corporation directed the little Siruvani water it got. The civic body had been supplying around 30 million litres a day (mld).

To date, the Corporation supplies around 30 mld and this is likely to go up once the inflow into the dam increases and the water supply goes up.

The sources say that at present using generators the TWAD Board pumped water from a channel into the intake tower and tunnel using diesel pumps. The board put in place the arrangement after representatives of the Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments met to discuss water-sharing arrangement. Meanwhile, the city received mild to moderate showers. The sky remained overcast on Saturday.